Weekly "Table Talk" story and questions by the author of the Art of Amazement. To subscribe to this blog via email, visit http://jsli.org .

Friday, July 18, 2014

The Meaning of Lift

The goal of this blog is to give a helping hand to your Friday night dinner conversation. Please print and share.

Central Pennsylvania.

Rural central Pennsylvania.

Driving with the wife and 3 kids.
Heading home on a Sunday evening after a LONG day.
3 hours of driving ahead of us.
A narrow road, traffic. Not a lot of room to maneuver.
An object on the road. Black.
Looks like part of a truck's engine.

Can we make it over it?
Hope so, no choice.

SCRAAAAAAAPE......POP!

Guess not.....

Plume of oil spurting out the back of the car.

Seven year old, "I can't breathe!! I can't breathe!!"

We made it off of the road safely. There is a happy ending.

But I wanted to relate one detail of this story that should be remembered.

Not only did Act Towing take care of our minivan, they took us in a
separate vehicle, first 20 miles to the airport to see if there were any
rentals available (there were not) and then 15 miles to a hotel.

And not only that, but the next morning, the boss's wife picked us up in
her minivan to take us back to the airport to get our rental car.
She didn't need to. They could have told us, "Sorry buddy, call a cab!"

That's hospitality. That's kindness.

And here's the best part: She showed no sign of trouble or hurry or bother.

2 questions for your table:

- What's a better feeling, when someone goes out of their way to help you, or when you go out of your way to help someone? - Does it matter how you do it, or is the doing it the main thing?